I recently had the opportunity to test a new type of cat litter for PoC. Well, I didn’t personally test it. My cat Monty really did the work of testing Fresh Air premium cat litter by Pet Loo. I had attempted a previous test of this product during the summer and with less than favorable results. However, the company seems to have been very responsive and the product as tested this time was much better.

Fresh Air cat litter comes with two carbon pads, which are placed covering the bottom of the litter box. Smaller litter boxes may only require one pad. The carbon pads, which look sort of like a flat, disposable diaper, do seem to give the product a boost in its ability to control odors. On the previous test I put one of these pads under Monty’s usual brand of litter, and it did seem to improve odor control, giving the room an actual “fresh air” smell. My nose is not very reliable though. I relied primarily on my husband’s sense of smell for this test.

Monty’s usual brand, World’s Best, is slightly worse at controlling odors than Fresh Air by Pet Loo. My husband is normally quite consistent in his ability to identify exactly when Monty has left a number two in his litter box. I will hear, “The cat pooped!” from my husband, go to investigate, and sure enough, there is poop. I was surprised while using the Pet Loo product to go check Monty’s box and find a poop that had not been announced by my husband. I think during the whole test he was able only once to call it out when the cat pooped. My husband stated that although Pet Loo doesn’t block all odors, it is a little better controlling odor from feces than Monty’s usual litter. Since I can never smell it when the cat poops this is not a big deal for me either way. However, if you have a sense of smell, you will smell a little less odor from your cat box with this product than with a corn based litter, which is what World’s Best is.

I don’t have a comparison available for clumping clay litter. I will not use it because of the dangers. It turns out clumping clay litter dust can really coat and clump inside your lungs, and your pet’s lungs. Fresh Air litter does NOT clump, so although it is a somewhat dusty litter, it’s still safer than clumping clay. The box states that Fresh Air is a low dust product. While putting the litter into the box there was a lot of dust raised, even though I tried to be careful. The product itself is similar in consistency to fine sand. I noticed dust only initially, however. I would say the wheat based litters are more dusty than Fresh Air litter. Monty didn’t seem to like to dig in Fresh Air litter very much, so he didn’t raise any dust. If other cats routinely attempt to dig to China and are litter flingers, there may be dust raised from that. This litter would probably be comfortable for declawed cats, but I like that they don’t advertise this fact, since that could be interpreted as support for that procedure. Fresh Air litter did not get tracked around my house at all. Monty’s usual corn based product requires a lot of work with the vacuum cleaner and even gets tracked outside of his room at times. Fresh Air litter all stayed right in his box.

The packaging states that you do not need to remove urine from the box. It claims urine is broken down and bacteria is killed, so there is no reason to remove it. However, Monty seemed a little upset that I wasn’t scooping out his urine, so I attempted to scoop it to satisfy him. Although it’s not clumping litter, if you catch it right away you can scoop out urine. It’s like wet sand and that will hold together enough to take most of it away. If you do this, the litter won’t last as long, but for those who like being able to scoop out urine, you can do it, so long as you get to it while the litter is still wet. I couldn’t detect any urine odor, nor did my husband. So whatever is supposed to be breaking down the urine and killing the bacteria, it seems to be working. The litter itself is non-toxic, since on his first trip into the litter box with Fresh Air litter Monty actually licked it. He had no ill effects from this.

My husband and I have actually talked about switching to the Pet Loo litter from World’s Best if the cost is reasonable. We like that Monty never really dug around in it, so he inhaled less dust than from his corn based litter and all the litter stayed in the box. My husband likes the superior odor control. I have one concern about the odor control pad, because it seems like a shame to throw that in a landfill—it has a plastic backing. It might be better if that pad could be made from 100% biodegradable material. The company could even sell the pads separately to provide an odor control boost for any litter product. I also like that the litter is not from a food product. The price of corn is going up due to ethanol production and a recent terrible drought in the Midwest of the United States. Other natural litters are made from either wood, wheat or corn, but Pet Loo is basically sand. The price of Pet Loo’s Fresh Air litter is going to remain a lot more stable than that of litters made from trees or plants. The company did not send me any information on prices, but perhaps they would be willing to write a comment with information about prices and where this litter will be available.

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Review of Fresh Air Premium Cat Litter By Pet Loo — 12 Comments

I have been using this litter for some time but it has been a long process finding a solution that would make it work for more than a couple of weeks. I too have had the problem that it just won’t dry out and the smell becomes overwhelming and it is ammonia. I scoop the poop as soon as I see/smell it but the ammonia smell is quite strong unless the litter is dry. The pad gets soaked long before two months has passed and I haven’t been able to get it to work for more than a month tops. To make that work, I have been using a disposable litter box that is biodegradable. The bottom is the right size for one pad and it is bigger at the top with the sides tapering down. It works great for the first two weeks then I find I have to “turn” the litter because below the surface it remains wet. By the fourth week it just stinks. So I’ve been switching out the pad by dumping the litter into an old litter box and putting in the second pad that comes in the big box. Problem is, now that the weather is colder, the litter isn’t drying out as well as it did during the summer. Bottom line is that this product has a ways to go to live up to what Petloo claims. It certainly does not last as long as they say.

I was excited to try Fresh Air. I filled one of my litter boxes with Fresh Air (we have two cats and three boxes).After 2 weeks the litter did not smell of ammonia but of pee. It was weird. Not like a cat but more like if a kid had wet a mattress alot. My cats loved the litter but the smell was bugging me. I called the company and we determined that I must have put the pads in upside down (my box had no directions but I still felt foolish!). They were very kind and sent me a replacement box to try again. With the pads in right I still had the same smell in two weeks! I’m so disappointed. It didn’t track, my cat loved it, and the customer service was exceptional but for $31 every two weeks I’ll have to continue my life long search for the perfect kitty litter! Next up-Stall Dry.

Thanks, David, for the additional information. I was trying my best to describe what the litter was like, and your information about Zeolite was very interesting. I was thinking it was similar in texture to Lake Michigan beach sand as opposed to the bigger granules of Wisconsin River sand, but that wasn’t really going to describe it for most readers. Now that you mention the volcanic origin, I can really see that about it. And it is non-toxic, since Monty felt the need to taste it! I’m glad you have a cat who digs in it to describe how the product performs in that circumstance. Monty seems to like digging only in litter with larger granules. Not that I’m complaining. I realized during the test that I could fool him by just stirring the litter around and then it dried out more quickly, rather than actually scooping it out. It was quite funny, the look he gave me, when he entered the box and I was standing nearby but not scooping out the wet spot from his previous visit. I still would like to see the pad made of 100% biodegradable material. I already feel badly about buying bottled water, but at least bottles can be recycled. The pad with its plastic backing is ending up in a landfill. That would be the only change I’d like to see– otherwise, as you say, it seems to be the perfect litter. I know that my husband, who has a sense of smell, definitely appreciated it. As a person deficient in that area, I don’t see what all the fuss is about litter box odor, because it doesn’t bother me in the least, ever!

I was one of the very first users of Fresh Air premium cat litter by Pet Loo. The development team at Pet Loo valued my input and the input of all of the consumer testers and in my opinion have the created the best litter ever.

It seems you had a very positive experience as well.

I noticed a few bits of information in your review that were not 100% accurate about the product and I have a few suggestions for you and the PoC community that will improve your experience using Fresh Air litter.

Fiirst of all, Fresh Air litter is made from Zeolite and not sand. Zeolite is a al natural, inert volcanic mineral. It’s texture and look is very much like sand..which my cat just loves, but Zeolite is way better than sand and or clay in so many ways.

1. Zeolite does not get sticky or pasty like clay, it holds it’s shape. It also does not stick to the side of the box or to your cats feet. I also had zero tracking of the litter out of the box like you did with Monty.

2. Zeolite does not contain any silica dust like sand and is 100% safe for cats. Silica can be very harmful to the lungs of humnas and pets. Zeolite is 100% safe and is even used as an ingredient in cat and dog foods as well as pet supplements.

Smething I discovered as I tested the litter was that I could give up scooping clumps. You mentioned that you had very little poop odoor and urine odor. You were concerned about Monty returning to a wet box. I found that when I left the box set it dried out within an hour. I also discovered that I could stir around the wet litter with my scoop and that the moisture would seeem magically disappear. The bacteria is not an issue because thencarbon pad prevents it from growing. I had 100% success simply removing the poop daily and it was usually dry when I removed it.

My cat is a digger and I noticed no dust when he was trying his best to “dig to China” I also was not concerned at all if any small particles flew in the air because Zeolite is inert and already fed to pets.

In short, I had no dust, no tracking and only had to remove the poop daily which was usually dried up and had almost no smell. my cat loves the texture and I love how safe and easy it is to maintain Fresh Air Litter. I also like that Zeolite is used as a soil amendment and thus poses no problem for the landfills or environment as a whole when disposed of.

I have found it at Petco.com for $21.99 for the 9 lb size and $31.99 for the 14 lb size. I think you can buy it direct from Pet Loo off thief website as well.

I hope my info is helpful to the PoC community. I have found my litter for life…Fresh Air litter.

In conclusion, I had no odor, no tracking , and my cat loved the texture and took to the box right away.

The odor control pad seems like a good and safe idea for any litter. It can’t be breathed in or ingested, therefore it can only help to a greater or lesser degree. I have never heard of something like that before. It seems like a great idea. I also like the no tracking around the house which I guess is due to it being sandy. Unfortunately my 3 are diggers. One of them will dig for a long time after. So it being sandy is a little worrying from a dust point of view albeit non toxic. I always picture cats outside digging hole in the earth and wonder just how that would work inside. Could one just grab some regular soil.The problem would be muddy feet I suppose and perhaps door. But earth from outside is much more disposeable so you could just replace the whole lot once or twice a day.

Anyway thanks for the review Ruth. I’m going through a bit of a period of litter consideration and engineering as it were. I’m currently using the silicon crystals which are great for so many reasons. But I dont like the dust and the buildup at the bottom. They track it around a bit too. I’d be interested to know if you will stick to it, or if not, what you will go on with in the end.

I tried to create an outdoor “litter box” area for Monty because I got tired of him pooping in the middle of the yard when he and I have our outside time together. I used a rake and dug up a nice area of dirt over by the shed, and Monty did use it, but dirt gets really hard again if you don’t keep loosening it up. I don’t think actual dirt from outside would work in an indoor litter box, Marc, and even if it did the tracking would be a nightmare. I grew up in an area where all the soil was sand, which does stay a lot softer. Our cats really enjoyed going outside up there, because it is easy to dig in the sand. But as David commented below, Pet Loo is actually safer if your cat inhales it than if he would inhale dust from actual sand. And sand wouldn’t control odors at all.
After I moved to this area, where the soil is actual black dirt or clay, I fell on my butt one evening as I stepped onto the shoulder of the road when a car was coming. My friends were laughing, like, “Why did you step in the slippery mud?” But wet sand isn’t slippery! I’d never seen actual mud, because all my life everything was just sand everywhere. Our kitties really loved it, but it took years and years of composting for my mom to be able to have a really decent garden.